A Welcome Distraction
by hoktauri
Summary: McKay's got work to do, but he gets distracted by a conversation in the mess hall.


Rodney McKay made his way down to the mess hall, hoping to stave off sleep for at least another two hours. He had a mission report to finish and ZedPM readings to make sense of. Even though he'd had limited access to the Zed on Earth, he'd never been given carte blanche to study one, not the way Elizabeth wanted him to earlier in the day. Of course, he'd been forced to return that Zed, but even the few hours he spent with it were more than he'd seen of Earth's zero-point power source.

Extra sugar, no cream (leaves more room for coffee). Mug in hand, McKay headed out, then paused. The mess hall wasn't empty after all.

Sitting at a table overlooking the Lantean ocean sat a lone figure. Chair facing the view, feet propped on the next chair over, one arm resting on the table top as if it were, well, an arm rest. McKay rolled his eyes at himself for the thought, and watched as the figure brought a bottle of beer up for a sip. Curiosity got the better of McKay as he strode forward to see who it was.

The light from one of the moons glistened and bounced off the water, throwing light on the subject before him. As McKay approached the opposite side of the table, he saw Aiden Ford's profile in sharp relief.

"Isn't it past your bedtime?" McKay asked.

Ford peered up at him a moment, then returned his gaze to the ocean.

"Are you even old enough to drink that?" McKay gestured with his now half-empty mug at the beer, fully aware that Ford was old enough.

"McKay, if you just came over here to piss me off, consider your goal accomplished." He raised the bottle to his lips and took a long gulp.

McKay sat down.

"That wasn't an invitation," Ford said tersely.

"Pissing you off wasn't my only goal," McKay said with a smirk.

He mirrored Ford's position, propping his feet in the available chair beside him. There was another curiosity to fill.

"In the Jumper, you asked me what I missed the most about Earth, but you never said what you missed."

He remembered his surprise at the question, not because he'd never thought about it, but because he wondered what made Ford ask _him_. He guessed it was because he wanted to have a regular conversation with an adult after spending all day with those kids. McKay had told him the first thing that came to mind.

"Well, it definitely isn't air conditioning," Ford said. "I can live without creature comforts."

"Well, what then? You had to be missing something to ask _me_ of all people."

"It wasn't one thing," Ford said. "It was a lot of things. Couldn't pick just one if I tried."

"So what's the list then?"

Ford sighed deeply. "Chocolate was the thing that tipped me over. Giving that chocolate to those kids, remembering the first time my mom gave me chocolate, before she..."

For once, McKay couldn't find something to say in the interim of someone else's thoughts. So he said nothing, just waited for Ford to continue.

"My grandparents, obviously," Ford said. "My cousin, Lara. Kids at the community center, the trees, biking the hills, new music, graffiti. Libraries."

"Now there we have something in common," McKay said.

"Biking the hills?" Ford said with a grin.

"Libraries," McKay said pointedly, but he refrained from the snarky remark that was riding his tongue. He found Ford's wide-open grin to be infectious. "Why did you even ask? More importantly, why ask me? Don't you have-Marine buddies to talk to?"

"Not about everything," Ford said softly, his expression falling again.

"No," McKay said firmly, regretting not only his question but the fact that he cared. This was _Ford_, for crying out loud. He was a nice kid, sure, but they had nothing in common. Except libraries. "No, no. You are too young to be so jaded. Leave that to those of us pushing middle-age who don't have perfect physiques."

Ford smiled, but that distant look in his eyes didn't fade.

"Wait, this is about a girl, isn't it? You left someone behind on Earth?"

"A lot of people left someone behind, doc," Ford replied. "Probably even you."

McKay sat back in his chair and drained his mug clean. He wanted more but didn't want to leave to get it.

"I haven't seen my sister in four years," McKay said. "Not since she had a kid and threw out a brilliant future in physics. She was smarter than me, she probably would have a Nobel by now."

Ford slid his beer across the table and McKay eyed it a moment before picking it up and taking a swig.

"Thanks."

"We ever make contact with Earth, you should call her," Ford said. "First thing."

"Like she'd ever forgive me," McKay said. "Some of the things I told her..."

McKay gathered himself, putting a stopper in the emotional hole he'd just carved out of his own chest. How did Ford do that? It wasn't like McKay hid things from people, but somehow all the things he'd given up over the years, all the _connections_, suddenly held weight. And they were heavy. Was it a load he never realized he carried before? Had it always been there?

"We broke up anyway," Ford said, jolting McKay out of his thoughts.

Back to the girlfriend, then. "Because you were coming here?"

"Nah, before that," Ford replied.

"She couldn't handle the uniform?" McKay asked. "Didn't like the loss of personality that came with it?"

Ford rolled his eyes. "It wasn't the uniform."

"Well? Don't keep me in suspense, Lieutenant. I'm the most brilliant man in two galaxies, if I want to know, trust me, I have ways of finding out."

"Only _two_ galaxies?" Ford asked.

"Smart-ass," McKay replied.

"It was DADT," Ford muttered.

McKay felt his smirk drop right off his face. "Oh," he said. "I see. Guess you can't tell your Marine buddies that one."

"Nope," Ford said.

"He wanted to come out?"

Ford shook his head. "I did. I told him that, one day, it'd be over and we could live openly. He didn't want that."

"Why not?" McKay asked, fully aware of how loud and incredulous he sounded, and he didn't care.

"I think it was mostly where he was from, how he was raised," Ford said. "Detroit," he added, as if that explained everything.

"And you're from where?"

"San Fran," Ford said. He took a sip of his beer. "So I was used to being out. He didn't wanna leave the DL."

"The what?"

"The DL. The down-low. He wanted the whole wife and kids thing and me on the side."

"I take it, uh, you wanted more?"

Ford nodded. "That was a while ago, though. Before the SGC."

"Still," McKay said. He didn't know how to complete the thought.

"Yeah," Ford said.

Again he wondered what made Ford want to open up to him. Sure, he wasn't military, and he wasn't even American, but certainly there were other people-who weren't bad with people-that Ford could talk to. Someone his own age, even.

"So why the military? If you're used to being out, that seems like, uh..."

"Counter-intuitive?" Ford asked.

"I was going to say 'idiotic'."

Ford grinned. "Yeah, maybe. But how else would I have gotten to the Pegasus galaxy?"

"I doubt that was on the brochure at your local recruiting office."

"No, but I could see stuff I never would have anywhere else."

"And then you could blow that stuff up," McKay said.

"I didn't want an ordinary life," Ford said. "I wanted to put my finger to an accomplishment."

Ford finished off his beer as McKay peered again into his empty mug. "Guess that's my cue to get back to the lab," he said, showing Ford his lack of coffee.

"Yeah, have fun with that," Ford replied.

"Oh, and, uh..." McKay paused where he stood. "Whatever you said here... I mean, a lot of people experimented with, uh, certain things in college, and you should know I would never betray your confidence."

"Don't sweat it, doc," Ford said. "Wouldn't have said it if I didn't trust you."

McKay nodded once and went to refill his mug. When he made it back to his lab, he found that no amount of caffeine could keep his mind on energy readings and ZedPMs.

After an hour of trying and failing to figure out what exactly he needed to be doing with the Zed readings, McKay decided he was tired and that was why he couldn't focus. He packed up and walked down the corridor to the nearest transporter, selecting the residential area on the map in the wall.

As he approached the door to his quarters, McKay saw Ford appear from around the corner, heading straight for him. He held something in his hand, cradled the way McKay carried his laptop.

"Ford," McKay said, mostly in greeting but also a question.

Ford stopped about two feet off and smiled. He held out the item in his hand; it was a book. "Thought you might need new reading material by now. I know I do."

McKay took the book: _The Comedies of William Shakespeare_. He grinned, looking up at Ford. "What's this?"

"It's my library," Ford replied. "Sorry, it's not the complete works; that one was kinda heavy."

McKay nodded, looking back to the book, a smile of surprise and delight playing on his lips. "Thank you."

Ford nodded once. "Well. Have a good night, doc."

He turned to walk away, but McKay realized he didn't want him to go. "Um. Aiden? Er..." He'd never called him by his first name before and it felt oddly invasive to use it. "Uh, that is, I mean-Ford?"

Ford had stopped and now turned, still smiling. "Yeah?"

"I have a, um." McKay stopped talking and simply gestured toward his room. Ford followed him inside, and McKay set his laptop on his desk, placing Ford's book on top. He walked to his dresser and pulled open a drawer.

"Wow," Ford said behind him. "This place is cleaner than I expected."

"Oh, kill the stereotype," McKay said, producing a book from his dresser drawer. "A well-organized scientist loses less time searching for the familiar and more time discovering the unknown."

Ford's smile turned into a full-blown grin as McKay held out the book in his hand: _The Tragedies of William Shakespeare_.

"Hmm," Ford mumbled. "Guess that makes you the pessimist."

Ford reached for the book and stopped when his fingertips brushed McKay's knuckles.

McKay pulled his hand away and took a step back. He knew he was being completely absurd. He should stop this before it started. Ford was just...

What distance McKay put between them, Ford made up for by stepping into McKay's personal space.

And then Ford's hands-Aiden's hands-were around Rodney's wrists, gently tugging him closer. He took the book this time, one hand still holding one of Rodney's wrists, his smooth fingers applying pressure on the pulse point.

"You ok, doc?" Aiden asked, stepping closer. "Pulse is kinda racing."

"No, I'm good," Rodney said. "Really... really... good."

"You sure?" Aiden asked, his lips so close to Rodney's he could feel the air between them vibrate when he spoke. "I can leave, if you want."

"No, I think, uh, you staying is better."

Then Aiden smiled and kissed him.


End file.
